Generally speaking, endoscopes may be used for various diagnostic and medical procedures. Endoscopes may be used for the diagnosis and treatment of a wide range of diseases and disorders that typically require a physician to access and navigate internal anatomical lumens within a patient's body. Once the endoscope is positioned in a desired body portion, a treatment instrument may be advanced through a working channel of the endoscope to the desired body portion.
For example, in certain tissue dissection procedures, an electrocautery needle may be directed through the working channel of the endoscope, and the endoscope may be maneuvered to a desired tissue location. The needle may be configured to cauterize certain target tissue, such as, for example, adenomas (i.e., tumors attached to a bodily surface). Once the needle reaches the desired portion of tissue, an electrical current may run through the needle, and the needle may then resect and/or cauterize the target tissue.
A conventional electrocautery needle may be positioned relative to the target tissue by movement of the endoscope. In other words, the endoscope is articulated, steered, shifted, pulled, and/or pushed by the physician to place the needle at or near the target tissue. A second operator, such as another physician or a physician's assistant, may then control the operation of the needle once positioned at or near the target tissue.
Adjusting the position of the electrocautery needle by moving the endoscope may be time consuming, cumbersome, and not accurate. Accordingly, a need exists to simplify the manner and improve the accuracy in which the position of an electrocautery needle is adjusted. The injection needle and related methods of the present disclosure are directed to improvements in the existing technology.